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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 78, 8 March 1943, Page 5

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AMERICAN OFFICER WRITES HOME HE NEVER CAME BACK London, Jan. 3. Three men were reported to have tossed a coin to decide who should be the last to leave the American aircraftcarrier Wasp, 14,700 tons, when she was sunk by Japanese torpedoes off the Solomons. One of the two who lost, Commander John J. Shea, aged 43, apparently never left the ship. He is listed “Missing in action.” He had a son, aged 5, Jackie Shea, who lives at home with his mother at Arlington, Mass. To Jackie, the father wrote this first and last letter: — “It is too bad this war could not have been delayed a few more years, so that I could grow up again with you and do all the things I planned to do when you were old enough to go to school. “WE HAVE IDEALS” “I thought how nice it would be for me to come home early in the afternoon and play ball with you, and go mountain-climbing, and.see the trees and the brooks, and learn all about woodcraft, hunting, fishing, swimming, and other things like that. “When you are a little bigger you will know why your daddy is not home so much any more. You know, we have a big country, and we have ideals as to how people should live and enjoy the riches of it, and how each is born with equal rights of life, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness. “Unfortunately, there are some countries in the world where they do not have these ideals, where a boy cannot grow up to be what he wants to be, with no limits on his opportunities to be a great man. “STAY CLOSE TO MOTHER” “Fighting for the defence of our country, ideals, homes and honour is an honour and a duty which your daddy has to do before he can come home to settle down with you and mother. “Do not ever be a quitter, either in sports or in your business or profession when you grow up. Get all the education you can. Stay close to mother and follow her advice. “If I do not get back, you will have to be mother’s protector, because you will be the only one she has.” The Wasp, the first American warship of her type to serve with the British Fleet in the war, carried Spitfires to the Mediterranean to reinforce Malta.